ABC Business Daily

For years governments and companies have been trying to figure out how to make more houses people can afford in Australia. In other parts of the world, building homes in factories and then assembling them onsite is part of the solution — but it's never really taken off in Australia. Now, construction firm Built has joined up with Bunnings' parent company Wesfarmers to create Built Living, a company making pre-cast concrete apartment parts ready to turn into affordable homes. But are Australians willing to embrace the model? And what's the price impact, really? Built Living CEO Dale Connor joins Alan Kohler on That's Business to find out what it'll take to make pre-fab work in Australia, the lessons from overseas markets, and what the closure of housing developer Bathla means for the construction industry. Got a burning business question? Send a short voice recording to the ABC Business Daily team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au

The US Federal Reserve has hiked interest rates for the first time since 2023 - and the consequences could reach all the way into your investment portfolio. United States Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh says the move is designed to bring inflation back towards target faster - but will one hike be enough, or are more on the way? And as higher US rates ripple through global markets, shifting currencies, borrowing costs and share prices - what are the potentially significant consequences for Australian companies and investors? In this special episode of ABC Business Daily Carrington Clarke is joined by Richard Schellbach, Equity Strategist at UBS, to break it all down. Got a burning business question? We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to Carrington and the team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au and we'll attempt to answer it.

Thailand's massive car manufacturing industry has seen the country nicknamed the "Detroit of Asia". But China's electric vehicle boom is shaking up the Thai automotive sector, with Chinese brands dominating the EV market and local manufacturers pushing for tariffs to protects themselves as vehicle production falls. Meanwhile in Australia, the economics of going electric are shifting again as oil prices come under renewed pressure and EV sales climb. On ABC Business Daily, Carrington Clarke and ABC Business Reporter Lin Lin explain how consumer behaviour and government policy turned Thailand's car market upside down, and unpack what we can learn from it in Australia. Got a burning business question? We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to Carrington and the team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au and we'll attempt to answer it.

The people building the world’s most powerful AI systems are starting to warn that development may be moving too fast. Some want a slowdown and stronger safeguards. Others, including Donald Trump, are dismissing those warnings as a “hoax” that could hand China an advantage. But underneath the safety debate is a huge economic story too - billions in investment, rising debt and enormous expectations riding on the AI boom. Carrington Clarke and ABC Business Correspondent David Taylor unpack what’s driving the pushback, what it could mean for Australia, and why the US 10-year Treasury yield breaking above 5 per cent is another sign that global markets are feeling the pressure on ABC Business Daily. Got a burning business question? We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to Carrington and the team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au and we'll attempt to answer it.

Brent crude is back above US$100 a barrel, with a second critical global energy choke-point now looking increasingly vulnerable. At the same time, Australia has its own problem to solve. The Reserve Bank of Australia says inflation remains the country’s biggest economic concern - but some of the pressures pushing prices higher, including another jump in oil, are coming from forces Australian interest rates can’t control. So how dangerous is this latest oil spike - and are borrowers being asked to carry the cost of inflation they didn’t create? Carrington Clarke and ABC Business Editor Michael Janda break it all down on ABC Business Daily. Listen to our chat with Satyajit Das on if we're heading for a "Bondmageddon" here . Got a burning business question? We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to Carrington and the team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au and we'll attempt to answer it.

Donald Trump is rewriting the rules of global trade, using tariffs as political weapons and up-ending decades of economic orthodoxy. At the same time, trade routes themselves have become central to the war in Iran, with the Strait of Hormuz sitting at the heart of the conflict. So what does someone who has spent his career understanding the politics and economics of trade make of all this disruption? Former Australian trade negotiator and author of Why Politicians Lie About Trade, Dmitry Grozoubinski joins Alan Kohler on That’s Business with Alan Kohler to unpack Trump’s trade war, Mark Carney’s retaliation from Canada, and what the upheaval could mean for Australia and the global economy. Got a burning business question? Send a short voice recording to the ABC Business Daily team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au

Bathla Group has collapsed owing billions, with hundreds of projects caught up in the fallout. But when a developer that big goes under, the bigger question is what it tells us about the wider market. Was Bathla simply a company that grew too fast and took on too much debt - or is it a sign of deeper pressure across property and construction? In this special episode of ABC Business Daily, ABC Business reporter Lin Lin is joined by AMP Chief Economist Shane Oliver to unpack how higher interest rates, rising construction costs and the growth of private credit are reshaping the industry. Listen to our chat with Satyajit Das here . Read Lin Lin's reporting on Bathla Group here. Got a burning business question? We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to Carrington and the team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au and we'll attempt to answer it.

Nike has lost its edge. More than US$230 billion has been wiped from its market value since its 2021 peak, and its share price is now back around levels last seen more than a decade ago. For a brand that has dominated global sport for generations, that’s a remarkable fall. So what went wrong? Was it China, competition, brand dilution - or simply a business that stopped setting the pace? ABC Business reporters Lin Lin and Dan Ziffer unpack how Nike ended up being dropped from the top 100 companies on the US share market, and what its slide tells us about the risks facing even the biggest global brands, on ABC Business Daily. Got a burning business question? We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to Carrington and the team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au and we'll attempt to answer it.

One Nation wants Australians paying rent or a mortgage to take more of their superannuation home now - but what could that cost them later? The proposal has ignited a political fight, with One Nation Treasury spokesperson Barnaby Joyce arguing people should be trusted with their own money. But behind the rhetoric are much bigger economic questions about retirement balances, inflation, interest rates and Australia’s $4.4 trillion super system. ABC Business Editor Michael Janda and ABC Business Correspondent David Taylor unpack what One Nation is actually proposing, what we learned from the COVID-era experiment with early super access - and whether the numbers behind this latest pitch stack up - on ABC Business Daily. Listen to Alan Kohler's conversation with AustralianSuper head Paul Schroder here . Listen to the political breakdown of One Nation's super plan on our sister podcast Politics Now here . Listen to our chat with Satyajit Das on if we're heading for a "Bondmageddon" here . Got a burning business question? We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to Carrington and the team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au and we'll attempt to answer it.

Satyajit Das thinks another major global financial crisis might be coming - and soon. He was warning about dangerous debt structures well before the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Now, with inflation still sticky, interest rates elevated, debt piling up and huge amounts of money pouring into AI, he thinks the pressure is building again. But what breaks first? In this special episode of ABC Business Daily, former banker and financial commentator Satyajit Das joins ABC Business Editor Michael Janda to unpack the risk of “Bondmageddon”, whether the world has become too dependent on cheap money, and how the AI boom could become another fault line in the financial system. Got a burning business question? We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to Carrington and the team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au and we'll attempt to answer it.

WiseTech Global is one of Australia's great technology success stories, running CargoWise, the operating system for global trade. But in recent years it's been engulfed in scandal amid grave allegations against founder and former CEO Richard White, which he strenuously denies. On top of that, the company's facing a changing tech and trade landscape thanks to AI. WiseTech's new(ish) CEO Zubin Appoo talks through how to pull a company out of a crisis, and debates whether artificial intelligence will change the game - just like the internet did for Alan's old newspaper jobs. Zubin Appoo, CEO of WiseTech and Alan Kohler unpack it all on That's Business with Alan Kohler. Got a burning business question? Send a short voice recording to the ABC Business Daily team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au

Australia’s biggest retailers have opened their books - and the numbers tell a pretty revealing story. Woolworths and Coles remain firmly in control, but the numbers show their strategies are shifting. Online sales are surging, shoppers are hunting around for value, Aldi’s growth has slowed, and smaller players are fighting over an increasingly narrow slice of the market. In this special episode of ABC Business Daily, Carrington Clarke is joined by Barrenjoey retail analyst Tom Kierath for a deep dive into what the latest results from Woolworths, Coles, Aldi and others are really telling us. Got a burning business question? We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to Carrington and the team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au and we'll attempt to answer it.

The world economy is being pulled in several directions at once. The war between the US and Iran has flared again, while fears are growing about what a wider escalation in Russia’s war on Ukraine could mean for energy, trade and global markets. In this special episode of ABC Business Daily, Carrington Clarke is joined by Madison Cartwright, a geopolitical and geo-economic analyst who’s now at Commonwealth Bank, to unpack what he is watching - and what it could mean for Australia. And amid all of that, there’s a fresh read on the Australian economy, with new GDP figures showing how growth is tracking and adding another piece to the puzzle ahead of the RBA’s next interest rate decision. Catch up on the political impacts of the GPD result on our sister podcast, Politics Now, here . Got a burning business question? We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to Carrington and the team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au and we'll attempt to answer it.

"No one wants to catch a falling knife." Australia’s property market is shifting fast. Home values have now fallen for five months in a row, buyer activity is down, auction results are softening, and 93 per cent of capital city suburbs recorded price falls through winter. But falling prices do not mean the same thing for everyone. For some buyers, it could mean opportunity. For sellers and heavily indebted households, the pressure is building. Carrington Clarke and ABC Business Correspondent David Taylor break it all down on ABC Business Daily. Read David Taylor's analysis on the latest property data here . Got a burning business question? We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to Carrington and the team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au and we'll attempt to answer it.

September is shaping up as a big month for interest rates. In the US, Kevin Warsh is talking tough on inflation, while here at home three of the big four banks now think the RBA could hike again - potentially as soon as next month. So are borrowers on both sides of the Pacific about to be slugged again? And what would that mean for an Australian property sector already under pressure, as the fallout from Bathla Group’s multi-billion-dollar collapse continues? Carrington Clarke and ABC News Business Editor Michael Janda break it all down on ABC Business Daily. Got a burning business question? We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to Carrington and the team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au and we'll attempt to answer it.

YouTube, TikTok and Instagram are full of "content creators", but very few turn it into a profitable business. Brisbane comedy duo, Marty and Michael, got their start doing silly stunts on Facebook. More than a decade later, they have nine staff and 13 million followers across social media platforms. They've worked with US "Jackass" comedians and built a brand from that same style of fearless comedy. Marty and Michael join Alan Kohler to discuss the highs and lows (and there have definitely been some lows) of building a comedy empire. They chat about building an audience, making money from content and the challenges of turning social media into a sustainable career. Got a burning business question? Send a short voice recording to the ABC Business Daily team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au Got a burning business question? Send a short voice recording to the ABC Business Daily team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au

There’s been a dramatic shift in interest rate predictions among some of Australia’s biggest banks today with CBA joining ANZ in predicting we’ll get a hike in November. NAB says the RBA likely to act next month. So is more borrower pain all but certain to deal with Australia’s inflation problem? And in the US, Meta has tried to minimise its pain by settling a massive court case avoiding the ignominy of their CEO being forced to take the stand, but is this the end of their legal woes? Carrington Clarke and Alicia Barry break it all down on ABC Business Daily. Got a burning business question? We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to Carrington and the team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au and we'll attempt to answer it. Got a burning business question? Send a short voice recording to Carrington and the team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au OR Got a burning business question? We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to Carrington and the team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au and we'll attempt to answer it.

Fresh data out today shows prices are rising slower than they were earlier in the year, but still well above the Reserve Banks target. So does that mean the Reserve Bank might be forced to hike rates even further? And Canada has loaded its tariff cannon to aim at its southern neighbour… will it light the fuse? Carrington Clarke and Diana Mousina, Deputy Chief Economist at AMP break it all down on ABC Business Daily. Got a burning business question? We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to Carrington and the team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au and we'll attempt to answer it. Got a burning business question? Send a short voice recording to Carrington and the team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au OR Got a burning business question? We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to Carrington and the team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au and we'll attempt to answer it.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has announced a series of measures which he says will cause the ‘economic asphyxiation’ of Iran, including going after other countries that do trade with the Middle East power. But with no end in sight to the ongoing global energy crisis, a wave of secondary food shortages are cresting on the horizon. So how is this affecting the economics of Australian farming? And how vulnerable are global food supplies? Carrington Clarke and ABC Chief Business Correspondent Ian Verrender break it all down on ABC Business Daily. You can read Ian's analysis on fuel and food shortages here . Got a burning business question? We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to Carrington and the team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au and we'll attempt to answer it.

Trade talks between the US and Canada broke down over the weekend, meaning a raft of Canadian products are now facing a higher tax slug. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada will retaliate against the US “dollar for dollar.” And meanwhile the Australian dollar has been gaining value against the greenback for eight weeks in a row. But is the Australian dollar really getting stronger? Or is the US dollar just getting weaker? Carrington Clarke and ABC News Business Editor Michael Janda break it all down on ABC Business Daily. Got a burning business question? We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to Carrington and the team at abcbusinessdaily@abc.net.au and we'll attempt to answer it.